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Friday, February 10, 2012

Well this is sad coming from the Episcopal Church Diocese of California ( San Francisco ) and it's Bishop Marc Andrus. See MCJ 's NASTY DIVORCE

What has set off the Bishop,and I am not sure how much of this is not manufactured outrage as I will explain, is the big historic event coming up in Houston this weekend. That is the installation of the first head of the Personal Ordinariate of the Chair of St. Peter. See Bringing ex-Anglicans into the Catholic fold

Now let me add a few observations to MCJ's piece.

There is enough energy - human, the earth’s, the infinite energy of the divine, to cope with the enormous problems of the world today, chiefly climate change and related human poverty and suffering. It is necessary, though for this energy to be applied and applied wisely for the saving effects to be brought forth. It is too bad that the Roman Catholic Church has chosen to expend funds of its available energy (http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/02/us/catholic-church-unveils-order-for-ex-episcopalians.html) including what might be viewed as a kind of low-level creativity on making a national refuge for disaffected Episcopal priests and the lay people who follow them.

A few words here. First sometimes there is way too much emphasis on the Episcopal Church numbers. The good Bishop does not mention this , and they often even hate to mention them, that they are not the only Anglican jurisdiction in town. In fact a good many people that are coming into the new Catholic structure left years and years ago . This fact is rarely mentioned because they do not want to acknowledge their existence.

Make no mistake, these angry ex-Episcopal priests and their flocks are not victims; they have not suffered persecution of any sort other than that they are repulsed by the stance of The Episcopal Church on the status of women and of lesbian, gay, transgendered and bisexual people in the Church and in the world. I can speak with some authority on this, having served in the Episcopal House of Bishops since 2002, a period spanning the explosive events around the election, confirmation, and consecration of Gene Robinson as Bishop of New Hampshire.

The assault on Anglo Catholic beliefs in the Episcopal Church began long before Gene Robinson. He also knows that a whole general shift from Catholic Orthodoxy is at issue too. Again many of the people that are coming in left years ago. From most people I talk too the growth that the Ordinariate will not come from "defectors" from the Episcopal Church. There are few Anglo Catholics there anyway. It will come from Catholics and yes praise GOD Evangelizing .

Throughout this tumultuous decade of The Episcopal Church’s life I have seen the large majority within the House of Bishops act with kindness (understood as a strong virtue here, harkening back to its root that links it with “kin,” such that being kind means recognizing our commonality with others), respect, and charity towards the vocal, active minority, including Jeffrey Steenson, the new head of the ersatz diocese for the unhappy. I was present in the House of Bishops when Mr. Steenson announced his resignation as Bishop of the Diocese of the Rio Grande, and announcement which was met with tears, hugs, and, as Mr. Steenson walked out of the assembly, a standing ovation of affirmation for him.

If anyone has watched events in the National EPISCOPAL Church and it actions to the Episcopal Church in South Carolina it appears the era of good feelings is over.

This is one reason why not only Anglo Catholics ,but a much bigger problem for the TEC reformed and Evangelical Episcopalians are looking for an exit. That his biggest problem in reality .

The principled stands of The Episcopal Church regarding the status of women and LGBT people did not appear by direct revelation, but they are also not whims of fancy. Rather, they reflect the way Episcopalians have come to understand God – as staying with the world throughout everything, as never abandoning us. Because we, week after week, experience this transforming presence with us in the sacraments of the Church, we understand revelation to be a process of unfolding.

In other words they made it up. Without even consulting or doing it often in some regards to the rest of the Anglican communion as to the LGBT issues. They certainly did not care what the Catholics and Orthodox thought. It was a radical Protestant like stance so of course Anglo Catholics can't live with it. They think they must live in communion with the Church of every age.

He pontificates some more and then in closing :

I value my partnership with the Roman Catholic Archbishop of San Francisco on forwarding the Millennium Development Goals, to cite one prominent example of our work together, and I debated with myself as to whether a response to this latest egregious action by the Roman Catholic central authority was worth the energy (see my opening sentence). Overall I concluded that something that gives credit to the amazing laypeople, deacons, priests, and bishops of The Episcopal Church who have courageously held to a course that follows that faintly shining tract through time to which the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. pointed (“The arc of history bends towards justice.”), and have done so with malice towards none and charity towards all – that such an effort was well worth it.

The Holy Father , and the Holy See can see what is up. First these EX - Episcopalian Anglo Catholics came to us. This discussion has been going on for decades.

It's quite clear that Anglo Catholic are going to have problems perhaps maintaining their theology and Catholic practice being associated with the more reformed and Evangelical branches also hitting the exits. These are the groups if your memory has failed you that the TEC has racked up over 20 million dollars in lawsuit cost. Further as we have seen when groups seperate there is a chance for more schism

The Holy Father recognizes the contribution of Anglicanism . He wants it to effect the Latin Rite as a whole even. He is just offering a safe harbor so can it exist and heck maybe grow.

I don't get the overreaction here. The current TEC mindset is having a traditional view on sexuality issues is a EVIL. It's a crime that that screams to the heavens to be corrected. How can those two views exist in the TEC. Well they can't. Which is one reason for all practical purposes they were driven out